Australian women cryptanalysts in navy helped to save lives in World War II

Wireless telegraphists worked round the clock in wartime, their expertise and essential service leading the way for women to join the Royal Australia Navy.

By Amanda Phelan

11 April 2015 — 4:38pm

Sydney's Jean Nysen left her job as a commercial artist at Mark Foy's department store in 1941 to train as a wireless telegraphist at the Royal Australian Navy's base near Canberra. Melbourne's Pamela Nicholls signed on in 1943, worked in wireless telegraphy, then as a cypher intelligence officer based in Townsville.

By the end of World War II, Nysen, Nicholls and about 3000 other women were proudly enlisted members of the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS).

Wireless telegraphist Jean Nysen enlisted in the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service.Credit:Anna Kucera

WRANS filled most shore-based positions, its officer corps expanded as the war progressed and many women worked long hours under exacting conditions in jobs where secrecy was paramount.

Wireless telegraphists had led the way for women in the navy: Florence McKenzie, an electrical engineer, had set up the volunteer Women's Emergency Signals Corps in 1939, teaching Morse code and wireless telegraphy and by August 1940, WESC-trained telegraphists were training men. By April 1941, women were actively recruited to the RAN and in July 1942, the WRANS were established.

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Melbourne's Pamela Nicholls was a cypher intelligence officer during World War II.Credit:Penny Stephens

"You'd be listening closely to the airwaves for any kind of activity. Of course we couldn't talk about what we were doing, so it was quite isolated. It was a lot of responsibility for 18- and 19-year-old girls."

Nicholls' duties included trawling for messages, listening in from 4am to noon, and from 4pm to midnight.

"The submarines were the hardest," she remembers. "I was always so terrified when we had subs out that I'd miss a message and not get a warning out in time to save our boys."

By war's end women occupied most of the navy's shore-based positions as cryptanalysts, drivers, mechanics, cooks or clerks.Credit:Holmes

Unlike Nicholls, Jean Nysen came from a maritime background; her father was a RAN officer and she was born at sea in 1922.

"I felt I had to do something to help win the war, and I wasn't going to be a cook – that might have only caused extra casualties," she says. Her family were proud of her decision to train in telegraphy, says Nysen, despite the initial reluctance of both the RAN and Australian government to have women joining the service.

"The then prime minister William [Billy] Hughes didn't want women involved," says Nysen , but it did little to frighten her off, nor other women who joined the WRANS. Nor the tens of thousands of women who joined the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force and Australian Women's Army Service.

By war's end women occupied most of the navy's shore-based positions, be it as cryptanalysts or communications experts, drivers and mechanics, cooks and clerks, and represented 10 per cent of the overall RAN strength.

The WRANS bond is a strong and valuable one, says Nicholls, who went on to marry and have a family after being demobbed. "We enjoy great companionship, and that's something women really know to value – a good friend."

The WRANS was disbanded in 1947, reconstituted in 1951 with quite sexist restrictions (wartime service was not recognised when it came to pay or promotion; married women could not serve; only a few shoreside types of positions were available), and then, finally, in 1959, WRANS achieved permanent status as part of Australia's naval forces.

Fast forward to 2015 and former WRANS are taking part in ceremonies to mark Anzac Day – serving naval personnel, male and female, are marching in parades and old hands such as Nicholls and Nysen are cheering them on.